Spider Defense Shuts Down UMass for 51-39 Road Win

Wednesday, January 31

Amherst, MA

11:30 AM

University of Richmond

9-14, 4-6 A-10

UMass

10-12, 2-7 A-10

Richmond

Massachusetts

01/31/2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Matt Moretti III (@Moretts13)

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Richmond women's basketball team (9-14, 4-6 Atlantic 10) puts its defense on display on Wednesday morning in front of a raucous, Mullins Center, crowd on education day. The Spiders upended UMass (10-12, 2-7 A-10), 51-39, for their second-straight win, bolstered by 14 points from Micaela Parson.

Richmond only put one player in double figures but truly spread the wealth instead. Nine different players etched their name in the box score, five of which registered multiple field goals. Jaide Hinds-Clarke tossed in eight points, Dee Hatcher had seven and Alicia Hudalla added six to go with a new career-high 12 rebounds. Hudalla is leading the Spiders by averaging 6.6 rebounds per game in A-10 play.

The Spiders never trailed in the game. That's the first time since the Savannah State contest that the Spiders led a game wire-to-wire.

Richmond jumped ahead 12-2 by the 2:42 mark on a driving layup from Micaela. Then some back-and-forth ensued until Kailyn Fee canned a triple as the buzzer rang out to give her side a 15-7 lead after one.

Things slowed down in the second quarter. UMass canned a jumper on the first possession but Karleigh Wike answered and away we went. With 1:38 to play in the half, Kylie Murphree split the defense and fed Amy Duggan on the wing for a three ball that pushed Richmond ahead by 12. The Spiders went on to take a 25-14 lead into the locker room.

The second half began with the Spiders getting hot offensively. Hatcher canned a triple, Hinds-Clarke converted inside twice and Micaela added a pair of free throws to quickly grow the lead to 18 points by the 7:38 mark. The run was capped off by a Micaela triple to make it 21 with 5:35 to go but the lead was down to 17 by the end of the frame.

UMass added some doubt in the fourth, cutting the Spider lead to just 13 by the 4:44 mark. After a timeout, Richmond responded with a quick 4-0 run to essentially shut the door. The defense held its own the rest of the way to secure the 12-point victory.

The next time the Spiders will step on the floor will be on Super Sunday (Feb. 4) when another one of the league's top teams, Duquesne comes to the Robins Center for a Noon tip.